friday...again!!!

Yeah, I am glad it is Friday, although it isn't looking to be a relaxing weekend. Today is Mali's birthday. She is nineteen, our seventh child. When she was born...Emily was nine. Abigail was seven. Benjamin was five. Mirielle was four, Joseph was two and a half, Aaron was fifteen months. She was born the day before our tenth wedding anniversary. We had a nice dinner on our anniversary when she was one day old, in the hospital. They used to offer nice lobster or roast beef dinners for new parents.

Anyway. Tomorrow we are celebrating our anniversary by working at the Dome...there is a Monster Truck Jam. They actually bring in the dirt, and bring those big noisy trucks in...it is LOUD! Paul and I are working double shifts because there aren't enough people to keep it staffed all day. blah. It IS fun, but it is tiring, and the concrete floor in the concession stand makes my feet and legs ache.

We will try to get away to celebrate 29 years of wedded bliss, one of these weekends.

Today, I cleaned up the house before I got on the computer because Larry The Cable Guy had to come to fix our internet. (Did anyone miss me yesterday?) I can't let the Cable Guy see our messy living room! So I swept and mopped and picked up books and papers and socks and dollhouse people and tea cups and washed and dusted and shined the refrigerator and cleaned counters and straightened the shoes. I washed a few loads of bedding, folded and put away some clothes, and finally...sat down with my oatmeal, after being up for almost five hours.

So I sat here and looked at the news, read more about The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson, read Mark's Daily Apple and the testimony of one man who was plagued with skin conditions and poor health...until he realized the importance of diet. He has followed the Primal way for one year, and is a changed man. Hmm.

But my relaxation didn't last. The school nurse called. Dang, that is never a good call, she doesn't just call to say howdy. No, Charlotte Claire was there for a visit, her ear hurts again. It was hurting her last week, probably from all the swimming. So I did what every good Mom might do but never admit...I gave her ear drops from Kathryn. What! They weren't that old! Anyway. The school nurse said her ear really looked like it had lots of fluid in it...so off to the doctor we go this afternoon. Since I promised Jonathan, Char, and Camille I would pick them up from school, I will just get them all an hour early and take them with me. Oh fun-ness.

We were planning on a trip to the pool this evening. Charlotte Claire is big enough that she can swim without going underwater, although it isn't as fun for her. So hopefully we will still go.

Did I say yet that I met a friend at the pool yesterday? She had two boys with her, so I figured she must be homeschooling, and she was. When I asked her how many kids she had, she hesitated...then said she had eleven. How Nice, I told her, I have sixteen! Oh, we clicked. She has 8 boys and three girls, and has lost seven babies due to miscarriage, including a set of twins. I think she was genuinely glad to talk to someone who totally understood the sadness of those losses...someone who wasn't thinking she was crazy, that she had ENOUGH kids. We just had a good old time treading water and conversing.

My poor son Jonathan was assigned a Restricted Lunch for today at school. The day before yesterday he somehow squeezed his milk carton and spilled milk on his tray, and laughed his head off about it. Bad behaviour - warning from Lunch Lady. Yesterday, he was trying to peel a raw carrot with a plastic spoon, which sent a piece of carrot flying. A child with whom Jonathan is not friends with went and told the lunch lady that Jon was throwing food, so he got a Restricted Lunch for today. He was not happy about it at all. He said he wasn't being bad. I have mixed feelings about it. I know Jon can get silly and laugh like crazy, but he isn't the kind of boy who mixes ketchup with his mashed potatoes or actually flings food about. He is more of a tattletale than a mess maker. I know the cafeteria is loud, and those ladies have to deal with all sorts of messes and misbehaviors. So I didn't call the school, didn't intervene. I just talked to Jon about making sure he is a good boy at school. And to try to relax and enjoy his silent lunch today. I put a nice little note in his lunch box, telling him I think he is a good kid and that I love him. Plus I gave him some yummy swiss rolls, and a cherry yogurt. I know he hates the thought of anyone thinking he is bad, because he so prides himself on being good. So this is hard for him. I want to pull him out of school and bring him home and hug him. But. Real life isn't always fair.

And he may have been a bit aggravating if he was doing his silly laugh, especially if he didn't stop when the lunch lady asked him what was going on.

I will be glad when I pick them up though, glad to hear about their days, glad to give them love and attention and have them with me.

If I hurry, I might be able to exercise a bit before I have to leave to pick the kids up from school....off I go.